Another reformation has begun

By Rev. Jeromey Howard

Lately, I have experienced much pushback from my fellow Christians (from all over the U.S.) about my vocalism and participation in marches or protest movements.

My response has been twofold.First, I am one of many putting the word “protest” back into Protestant. Second, though in Romans we are told to be subject to the authority of the government, I (and many others) are adhering to what we hear in Acts 4:19-20, “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge, for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” Also, in Acts 5:29, “We must obey God rather than men.” There is a long line of people upholding God’s standard of justice over that of humanity.

It being the 500th anniversary of one of the reformations, what is taking place is fitting. When Martin Luther inadvertently began the Protestant Reformation in October 1517, it was his judgment that the Catholic Church had adopted unbiblical and destructive ways that were calcifying the body of Christ, which is to say the church.

Donna Schaper, senior pastor of Judson Memorial Church in New York City (it’s affiliated with both the American Baptists and the United Church of Christ), has sad but accurate news for Protestants today. She writes, “Today, we have the same fossilization of institutional religion, only this time it is us Protestants.”